Tacky Tourist Tat

My Texan friend Lisa Locket, like most Americans loves that tourist tat stuff the Royal Mile in Edinburgh is full of. So today I bought her the 'Full Monty' at the local £1 store here in Glasgow. Tea towel, Flag, Fridge Magnet, Coasters, Mouse Mat, Keyring and Stationery Set. It will be flying off to the USA as you read this, in its own small way helping to forge closer ties with our American brethren. Today was also a big day on the Goldfish front. I got a big Goldfish bowl and everything except the Fish. I'm going to double check with an expert before I get the fish but it looks like being two goldfish, one bottom feeder and an algae eater.

Goldfish

I was strolling around town today and stepped into a tropical fish shop. No particular reason either. It gave me the notion to get a goldfish though. Maybe two even. I'll look more into it before buying a bowl and fish. I wouldn't want them lasting only a few days like fairground prize goldfish. They would make great friends with Xena and Gabriel I'm sure!

Baa-rmy purchase

Breaking news is that thousands of dog lovers in Japan have spent over £600 each on fashionable miniature poodles only to discover that they were in fact lambs. They were shorn to give a similar appearance and they only realised when they refused to bark or eat dog food. It reminded of the time my Texan friend Lisa Locket bought what she thought was a very exotic pet of a lion cub, only to discover it was a domestic long haired cat that had been shorn with a lion cut!

Weeds!

One of my friends was doing the spring weeding today and it got me thinking. Who decides a plant should be regarded as a 'garden flower' or else a 'weed'? Perhaps there is some gardening committee sit and vote on whether the latest plant is a pretty flower or an unsightly weed. Well whatever!, I put it to you, that if you like a commonly prescribed weed ( for example the pretty dandelion with it's joyous yellow bloom and fluffy seeding head) then it is not in fact a 'weed' but is a flower that should be nurtured and enjoyed. I remember my old neighbours thinking I was not tending my garden when in fact I was enjoying the gorgeous blooms of daisy and dandelion and the wonderful verdant foliage of 18 inch grass and 3 feet nettles.

Banksy

With news that a Banksy stencil Graffiti picture has just sold for £288,000, I've decided to make my own for my flat. I got a matt black and a yellow spray paint from the local art store and am going to get card from a bin. The rest is just enlarging the picture above, cutting out the relevant bits from the card, holding the spray can the recommended 10" from the card and Voila! my own 'Banksy' rip off work for less than £10. I'll add the image of the result onto this post once I've done it.

Weather

Like so many western countries around the world, here in Scotland the general populace has one favourite topic of conversation - The weather. And more specifically complaining about it. But I think it is time to reflect not on the negative aspect of a little too much rain causing a few puddles in the street, or a windy day blowing over a few daffodils in your garden and start to count our blessings we do not have the horrendous weather and natural disasters experienced by many around the world. We never get hurricanes, or tsunamis or earthquakes or bad tornadoes or serious flooding or volcanic eruptions or avalanches engulfing entire villages. Not for us the lack of fresh drinking water experienced by ¾ of the world’s population As lisa locket is fond of pointing out, It’s easier to see the negative things than to realise just what you have and appreciate it. . No, I think it’s time we took stock and saw that we are indeed blessed in terms of our environment.

The Fascination Of Personalisation

When I was a kid it was seen as the height of sophistication to have your initial(s)embroidered on a handkerchief (known as monogrammed), but these days with high tech systems things have got far more elaborate. I even read in a blog the other day you can get your own name printed onto m&m candy! I like those free online personalised sign generators which are useful in creating humorous cards and blog pictures!

Crock Pot Cookery

A slow cooker, often referred to as a Crock-Pot®, is a countertop electrical home appliance that is used to cook stews and other dishes containing water at relatively low temperatures, with correspondingly long cooking times (several hours). Many recipes simply call for the ingredients to be put in the crock, with little preparation. The slow cooker can then safely be left to run unattended, making it a convenient cooking method.

I swear by my Slow Cooker as it's both convenient and makes delicious currys and casseroles. It is also a practically fool proof method of cooking and even people like Lisa Locket can create a tasty meal simply by throwing in the raw ingredients before going to work. Coupled with the microwave oven, the slow cooker is the champion of the single working person.

Dr Who In Glasgow?

The availability of modern communications renders the old police phone booths obsolete, but here in Glasgow some are finding a new lease of life as coffee outlets. Preserving a fond symbol for many and providing a useful service too. I was in the West end earlier today. Here is one at the Botanic Gardens and one in Queen street.

While I was in the west end I had a coffee at the wine bar that's part of the Hilton hotel. When it was opening they asked locals to come along and pose naked for a wall mural. Perhaps surprisingly they were inundated with volunteers. I took a photo of the mural to show you. Notice the clever placement of drinks, arms etc.

Beware the Sneaky Bandwidth Thieves

They hunch over laptops in their cars on neighbourhood streets, tapping into other people's wireless broadband connections for some free time online, and are fast becoming criminals of the internet age.
Wi-Fi theft leaves no fingerprints and keeps its distance, but thousands are at risk because they don't adequately password protect their wireless accounts.
I just got myself upgraded to a half decent 8 meg WiFi system, so rest assured I'll be taking suitable measures to secure it. I suggest you do likewise.

Space shield to block radiation

British scientists are planning to see whether a Star Trek-style deflector shield could be built to protect astronauts from radiation.
They argue that magnetic shields could be deployed around spacecraft and on the surfaces of planets to deflect harmful energised particles.
Several countries' space agencies have announced their intentions to resume human exploration of the Solar System.
Scientists hope to mimic the magnetic field which protects the Earth.
Details have been presented at the Royal Astronomical Society's National Astronomy Meeting in Preston, UK.

Taken From BBC News website 18/4/06

Watch your Red Hats!

Red Hat, Inc. (NYSE: RHT) is one of the largest and most recognized companies dedicated to open source software. It is also the largest distributor of the GNU/Linux operating system. Red Hat was founded in 1993 and has its corporate headquarters in Raleigh, North Carolina with satellite offices worldwide.

The Red Hat Society is a social organization for women. Members over 50 wear red hats and purple clothes whereas younger members wear pink hat and lavander clothes. The Society was founded in 1998 by Sue Ellen Cooper of Fullerton, California, and she serves as the organization’s current Queen. As of October 2006 there are about 1.5 million registered members in over forty thousand chapters in the United States and thirty other countries. The Society takes its name from the opening lines of the poem Warning by Jenny Joseph, which starts:
“When I am an old woman I shall wear purple

With a red hat that doesn’t go and doesn’t suit me.”

Nursery Rhymes

Lucy Locket lost her pocket,
Kitty Fisher found it;
Not a penny was there in it,
Only ribbon round it.

Lucy Locket was a gold-digging English barmaid who’d passed her lovers onto actress-prostitute Kitty. Now, both rhyme and reason have been long forgotten.

Georgy Porgy pudding and pie

Kissed the girls and made them cry

When the boys came out to play

Georgy Porgy ran away

Some people suggest it was written about George IV, but it is just a childhood obesity warning

Every Day Is A School Day.

There was a famous psychology experiment carried out once where 15 highly respected physicians were gathered under the auspice of a training course. 14 were in on the experiment and there was one 'Mark' ( The test subject). When asked a seemingly easy question the first guy answered with a seemingly stupid answer ( the 'Mark' gives a wry 'knowing' smile at this), when the second then third and ultimately 14th gives the same incorrect answer, the 'Mark' looks far less confident and when he is asked, replies with the same wrong answer. Although it is easy to think this guy is a clown or weak loser, in fact the vast majority of people do the same.

Sometimes it's easier to keep quite in a crowd and not ask a question for fear of 'looking silly'. I've always thought is better to look silly ( It is unlikely you will, and even if it seems you do, who cares?) than to remain in a lifetime of self imposed ignorance. So the next time you are unsure what somebody means or don't know a what a word means - ask!!! Sometimes of course it is not practical to ask, and in these situations write it down and look it up later.

Lucy locket - A prostitutes tale

Lucy Locket lost her pocket,
Kitty Fisher found it,
Not a penny was there in it,
Only ribbon round it.

Lucy Locket was a barmaid at the Cock, in Fleet Street, London, sometime in the 1700s. Lucy discarded one of her lovers (her 'pocket') when she had run through all his money. Kitty Fisher, a noted courtesan, took up with him, even though he had no money.
This was a well known and popular rhyme on both sides of the Atlantic by the middle of the 19th Century and was sung to the tune of Yankee Doodle Dandy. Kitty Fisher was a famous 18th Century courtesan and aspiring actress, who was notorious as the mistress of several well known men of the day. She was also a neighbour and friend of Dr Johnson.

Mohammed overtakes George in list of most popular names

As we all know parents can be a fickle bunch and no more so when it comes to choosing their children's names. 'Mohammed' has now overtaken 'George'( England's 'patron Saint') in the UK baby name popularity list and simply reflects the modern ethnic diversity of Great Britain. Strangely, the USA seems to be more consistent with it's 'Georges' and it maintains popularity. It's interesting to see how a name can drop away from favour and subsequently give the holder a feeling of collective unpopularity ( The old 'everyone hates me' syndrome). It's like 'Osamma' today, like 'Adolf' after the 1940's and even 'Judas' if you go back 2000 years I guess. I demonstrate a couple of names taken at random...'George' and 'Lisa' to show the trends in the USA.

Laptop attacks Viruses

After formatting and installing my new hard drive, I had been running it for about a week without anti virus software. I knew it was giving problems due to malicious software so bought an internet security software package. It's immediately sorted all the problems I was having. The initial Hard disk scan found over 1200 problems!. It sorted them all. Seems to be a pretty good package. I'll soon know how good it is I guess. It just shows that without a seperate anti-virus solution windows xp is for all intensive puposes practically useless for internet browsing.

Paraskavedekatriaphobia

Fear of Friday 13th!.............Some Christian traditions have it that at the Last Supper, Judas, the disciple who betrayed Jesus, was the 13th to sit at the table and that for this reason 13 is considered to carry a curse of sorts. Anyway lets hope that today will not bring you any bad luck, but quite the opposite! All it takes is a little positive thinking and we can make Friday 13th a lucky day!!

The Nanny State Hits the blogosphere

Readers should be warned when they are reading blogs that may contain "crude language", a draft blogging code of conduct has suggested.

The code was drawn up by web pioneer Tim O'Reilly following published threats and perceived harassment to US developer Kathy Sierra on blogs. The code begins: "We celebrate the blogosphere because it embraces frank and open conversation."
The draft says people should not be allowed to leave anonymous comments. Blogs which are open and uncensored should post an "anything goes" logo to the site to warn readers, the code suggests. Readers of these blogs would be warned: "We are not responsible for the comments of any poster, and when discussions get heated, crude language, insults and other "off colour" comments may be encountered. Participate in this site at your own risk."
The draft will now be assessed and amended by bloggers around the world. The code states:

"We are committed to the 'Civility Enforced' standard: we will not post unacceptable content, and we'll delete comments that contain it." The draft defines unacceptable content as anything included or linked to that is being used to "abuse, harass, stalk, or threaten others".

It also refers to libellous material, infringement of copyright or trademark and violations of privacy.

Taken from the bbc news website: http://www.news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6540385.stm

When A Blog is Not A Blog

I'm reliably informed by one of the blogs regular readers, Lisa Locket ( in fact the blogs only regular reader) that this blog is not technically a 'Blog' but is in fact a 'Blurb'. She suggests I stop referring to it as 'My Blog' and instead use the more accurate 'My Blurb'. So ok lisa, from now on I'll call it 'My Blurbing Blog' as a compromise.

The "Intellectual Conversation" room

There is a new chat room in paltalk which has succeeded in a short period of time to get up the noses of most of the BPE crowd that have visited it. Poor Molly was asked her age by the room administrator on the basis that her eye looked young in her profile image. Needless to say most were subsequently 'bounced' for non disclosure of age. Exploring the universe was pretty funny earlier today with plusate on good form chatting about his morning beer and techno playing prostitute neighbour.

Easter Message

Easter is traditionally a busy time for animal shelters as owners who bought pets for Christmas dump them when they think they're getting in the way of holidays. So please spare a thought for them all, not least the Easter bunnies and their furry friends who are looking for a new and loving home today!
Oh, and bye the way, I DO NOT think that the Easter Bunny is the guardian of Jesus' tomb! ;)

Xena and Gabriel

Here is Xena and Gabriel playing on their custom made scratch post. This was taken when they were just little kitties.

£50 For a Hoseclip!!!!

There are many 'trendy' boutiques and designer stores near me in the city centre. This one caught my eye though. A jewelers selling plumbers hose clips as 'designer styled' rings at £50 in silver, and £75 in Gold plate. We get them in the work at around £4 for a box of 10. I enclose pics for those that think I'm joking!

Does a Placebo 'work' if it makes people better?

I was reading up on Reiki the other day and the science community generally writes it off as 'hokum' sold to the vulnerable by modern day snake oil salesmen. One interesting thing I did come upon though was a large study carried out here in Glasgow by the South Glasgow University Hospital NHS Trust on the effectiveness of Reiki for recovery on a large group of patients. They found that heart rate and diastolic blood pressure decreased significantly in people who received 30 minutes of Reiki, but also decreased significantly in people who received a placebo intervention. There was no significant change in people who received 30 minutes of rest. The authors therefore concluded that it is "unlikely that the significant changes in both placebo and reiki groups are due to simply lying down and resting.". So the question I ask myself is 'If an alternative treatment although having no scientific basis of effectiveness, induces improved healing ( because the recipient uses it as a 'kick start' for the body to self heal ), does this make it a viable and acceptable treatment ( paid for by the taxpayer)?

Urinating dentist struck off list

A dentist has been struck off the register for urinating in his surgery sink and using medical tools to clean his ears and nails. The General Dental Council found Alan Hutchinson, 51, guilty of unhygienic practices at the Branch Road Dental Practice in Batley, West Yorkshire. Mr Hutchinson had admitted not routinely wearing gloves, but denied all the other charges. He said he did not always wear gloves due to a latex allergy.

The Original And Best!

I should really mention The Original BPE breakaway room on Paltalk. That's gravitypulls2004's 'Science and Astronomy' room in the Miscellaneous category. He was first and suggested we should make up another room in case his had problems. See you there!

Scottish Inventions and Innovation

Here's a list of all the useful (and sometimes a bit odd!) things the Scots have been responsible for creating. What a clever lot we are!
James Chalmers (1782-1853) Invented the adhesive postage stamp, Sir Hugh Dalrymple (1700-1753) Invented the hollow-pipe drainage system, David Douglas (1798-1834) Botanist after whom the Douglas Fir is named. Patrick Ferguson (1744-1780) Invented the breech loading rifle. James Gregory (1638-1675) Invented the reflecting telescope John McAdam (1756-1836) Developed the process of covering roads with small broken stones (Tarmacadam) Charles MacIntosh (1766-1843) Added naptha to rubber to create the Macintosh raincoat Andrew Meikle (1719-1811) Invented the threshing machine John Napier (1550-1617) Developed the concept of logarithms and invented the decimal point! Richard Noble Holds the World land speed record William Paterson (1658-1719) Founded the Bank of England! Sir James Young Simpson (1811-1870) Pioneered the use of chloroform in anaesthetics James Small (1730-1793) Invented the iron plough William Symmington (1763-1831) Developed the first steam powered marine engine Robert William Thomson (1822-1873) Invented the vulcanised rubber pneumatic tyre, patented the fountain pen and patented the steam traction engine Sir Robert Alexander Watson-Watt (1892-1973) Developed RADAR. John Logie Baird (1888-1946) Invented the television. Sir Alexander Flemming (1881-1955) Discovered penicillin. Alexander Graham Bell (1847-1922) Invented the telephone. James Young (1811-1883) Developed the process of refining oil. Sir David Brewster (1781-1868) Invented the kaleidoscope. Sir James Dewar (1842-1923) Invented the vacuum flask. John Boyd Dunlop (1840-1921) Further developed the vulcanised rubber pneumatic tyre (Dunlop Tyres) Thomas Telford (1757-1835) The "Colossus of Roads!" Built many of the first roads. Rev. Patrick Bell (1800-1869) Invented the reaping machine, which led to the combine harvester. Joseph Black (1728-1799) Developed the concept of latent heat and discovered Carbon Dioxide. James Braid (1795-1860) Pioneered hypnosis. Sir Dugald Clerk (1854-1932) Invented the two-stroke Clerk Cycle Gas Engine. Sir William Fairburn (1789-1874) Developed the use of tubular steel in construction Rev. Alexander Forsyth (1769-1848) Invented the percussion cap which later became the bullet William Murdock (1754-1839). Invented coal-gas lighting James Pillans (1778-1864) Invented the blackboard and coloured chalk John Shepherd-Barron (1925- ) Inventor of the ATM Sir Sandford Flemming (1827-1915) Created the World time zones Alexander Wood (1817-1884)
Invented the hypodermic needle John J R MacLeod (1876-1935)Helped to discover insulin. Henry Faulds (1843-1930) Created the process of criminal fingerprinting Ian Donald (1910-1987) Invented the ultrasound scanner John Anderson (1882-1958) Father of the Anderson Air Raid Shelter. Sir Charles Thomson Rees Wilson (1869-1959) Created the Wilson Cloud Chamber and carried out extensive studies on particle physics.

Hard Disk Failure!

Oh Deary, Deary Me!!!!

My hard disk seems to had died ( RIP ), so I may not be online for a bit.
I'm making this entry via email. Please leave any news or gossip on
'comments'
See You Soon!
Braveheart.

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Foucaults Pendulum

My nearest Starbucks is situated in Princess Square, a local shopping mall, and has the unusual feature of a Foucaults pendulum outside.

I was going to see the movie '300' today and had a coffee there while I was waiting for the cinema opening. It's a rather nice feature and one I'm sure that will interest those with an interest in Astronomy. When I got home the cats were sitting on their favorite perch (a cardboard box, which doubles as a scratch post) waiting on me. I took a photo of them. Gabriel is giving a welcoming 'meow' and Xena looks more interested in the contents of my shopping bag.

Troublesome Pensioner 'Bounced'

Astrologer the Paltalk room regular at most Chat rooms he has not been barred from, caused more trouble last night at a packed 'Exploring The Universe' room. A respected and Eminent MIT professor was opening the floor to questions after delivering his PowerPoint global Warming presentation. The sprightly Pensioner started yelling 'Hey, Al Gore, you know nothing...Astrology has all the true answers!!!' Alien Genius, the rooms 'no nonsense' room administrator soon had the geriatric heckler on his way, throwing him 'virtually' out of the room by the scruff of the 'cyber' neck.

Blog inspires Copycats

Great news. the scooter is going well again. There was a pipe coming from the carburettor that was squeezed shut, stopping air ( or something like that). I'll go for a spin on Sunday afternoon, tooting at folk as I whizz past. Maybe get some Cheesecake and cream and cheeseburger stuff.

Plusate (who was uncharacteristically drunk last night), and lisa2 have now both decided to make their own blogs up. Fair play to them, but they are the types that if I said I was getting into bondage, would be off to the S&M emporium to stock up next day. They can't see green cheese.